TCU’s Diarse shines at Liberty Bowl with two highlight touchdowns

TCU receiver John Diarse had not caught a touchdown pass since the fourth game of the season, a Friday night in September at SMU.

Friday in Memphis, he caught two.

The graduate transfer from LSU made his biggest impact of the season with scoring catches of 10 yard and 9 yards for the Horned Frogs in the 31-23 loss to Georgia at the Liberty Bowl.

“John’s been a great transfer,” coach Gary Patterson said. “John’s exactly what I’m talking about — bigger body. When you’re playing against guys with bigger bodies, you need guys with bigger bodies. We need to grow up, we need to get bigger. And that’ll happen.”

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Taj Williams led TCU wide receivers this season with 39 catches for 702 yards. John Diarse was second with 33 for 442.

Diarse is 6-foot-1, 209 pounds. His second catch was a leap over a defender in the corner of the end zone. He caught the ball with both hands over the helmet of cornerback Deandre Baker and came down with the catch in one hand for a 23-21 lead with 2:07 left in the third quarter.

In the second quarter, Diarse caught a ball nearly out of reach on a slant pattern, going in for a 16-7 lead.

He ended the season as the Frogs’ third-leading receiver with 33 catches for 442 yards and three touchdowns, including a 75-yard score against SMU that went down as the Frogs’ longest play of the season.

Diarse has another year of eligibility and has said he will be back for it.

The Horned Frogs quarterback believes even if he is a starter, he can't take it for granted. Like a former NFL quarterback said.